Retail inflation marginally dips to 6.44 pc in February

New Delhi: Staying above the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance level of six per cent for the second straight month, India’s retail inflation marginally dipped to 6.44 per cent in February from January’s three-month high of 6.52 per cent. Inflation is still high on a year-on-year basis where it was seen at 6.07 per cent in February 2022, according to the data released by the statistics ministry on Monday.

As inflation is attributed to rising food prices that account for nearly 40 per cent of the Consumer Price Index basket, the government data, however, showed that food inflation stayed at 5.95 per cent in February, up from 5.94 per cent in January.

“Besides, rural inflation in February stood at 6.72 per cent, while urban inflation was at 6.10 per cent. India’s CPI inflation in December stood at 5.72 per cent, and in November, it was at 5.88 per cent,” the data showed.

Despite the RBI’s consistent effort to keep inflation within a band of 2-6 per cent, higher inflation has been a concern for all central banks, not only in India but also across the world, due to economic uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine war. The RBI had forecast retail inflation at 6.5 per cent for 2022-23, with the January-December quarter at 5.7 per cent.